Pathway to Aura
by Isaac A. Drake
Summary: Over a year later, at Sinnoh's Lily of the Valley Conference Ash begins to unlock his latent Aura talent that he'd discovered in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Will go into Unova and then Kalos after a time. Ship undetermined and suggestions not wanted.
1. Highway to the Rivalzone

Author's Note: Okay so this is an idea I've been playing with for years. Like I was still in high school when I started writing this. However I've never been good at following through with fics. So I'm posting this as a likely two shot that I'm hoping to continue if I can. The idea is a more mature Ash at 15 fights Paul in the semi-final round with Tobias in a separate seed from the two of them. This allows Ash to see Tobias's semi-final fight later on and make a big choice that you'll see next chapter.

oOoAuraoOo

Ash Ketchum stood tall as he looked across the arena at his opponent. He wasn't shocked to be facing the fellow trainer. In fact he'd relished the thought of having this battle.

And to top it all of it was the Semi Final Battle for the Lily of the Valley Conference. He'd blown through to the quarter-finals when he'd finally met some competition. To be fair the guy was using dragon and steel types. It had been quite annoying to whittle away at the stamina of those brutes. He'd won though, and now he stood in the match that mattered more to him than the final would have, against Paul.

The pokemon master in training smirked as he pulled his hat down tighter, "You ready for this Paul?"

The other boy smirked right back and as the rocky terrain of the first arena lifted up and the referee gave the signal both their first pokeballs went flying.

"I chose you Infernape!"  
"Destroy this wimp Magmortar!"

Ash gulped at the intimidating figure posed by the opposing pokemon, but seeing his Infernape jump up and down in joy at the challenge he snapped back into focus.

"Infernape start it with a Vacuum Wave!"

He was glad that he'd gotten the supplies together to have an extensive visit with the move tutor in the month he'd had to prepare for the Conference.

His pokemon raised its arms and shot them forward while raising its body temperature sending a roiling wave of air blasting forward at the hulking mammoth of a fire type in front of it.

Due to Magmortar's slow speed it took the hit and was pushed back a few feet, the air knocked out of it.

Not even needing to follow orders to know what it should do Infernape closed the gap.

"Magmortar blow it away with Lava Plume!"  
Ash quickly commanded his pokemon in a perfect counter, "Mach Punch its hand-cannons Infernape!" The quick little monkey ducked beneath the behemoth's guard and knocked its cannons to the side.

Paul was swiftly realizing that his usual 'go in for the kill' tactic wouldn't work with this pokemon match up. "Confuse Ray!"

The ghostly ray struck the monkey pokemon right in the face. Suddenly its perceptions were twisted and flipped. "Fer…nape…in?" It tried to keep its balance as it leapt backwards to gain distance, and fell right on its rear end twenty feet away.

"Now blast it again with Lava Plume!" Paul commanded with a smirk. Ash rapidly was thinking through a counter.

"Quickly use a Flame Wheel to knock the lava away!" Leaping up the monkey pokemon spun while releasing enough fire to make most of the lava splatter away. Some of it broke through and Infernape landed on all fours slightly singed.

"_Ash. Ash." _A whisper in his head ruined Ash's focus for a split second before he shook it off. Unnoticed to himself a few wisps of blue smoke floated off of his hands and made their way to Infernape.

"Mach Combat combo now!" Ash had gotten smarter after all of his contests in the last two regions. He'd drilled common combos into his pokemon.

The lithe monkey fighter struggled to gather its strength for the move until the smoke fed itself into his flame, his flame burst into life again powerfully and he dashed forward with spectacular speed. Infernape punched Magmortar in the head and seamlessly changed into the use of Close Combat pummeling the flaming giant into submission.

"Magmortar is unable to continue! Match to Infernape!" The referee announced.

"Grr! Useless!" Paul grunted as he withdrew his pokemon.

"Good job Infernape! Return!" Ash knew his pokemon would need a slight rest after that brutal fight.

"Will the competitors choose their next pokemon." The referee commanded.  
With a growl Paul tossed his next pokeball, "Weavile cut his pathetic pokemon to pieces!"  
"Staraptor I choose you!" The combative bird pokemon came out with a battle shriek.

Paul decided to try and finish it quickly. "Icy wind!" The blast of sleet flew towards the bird.

"Dodge then use Quick Attack to get close and nail it with a Take Down!" Staraptor didn't move fast enough and got part of its tail frozen sending it a bit off balance. Luckily even though Weavile initially dodged the Quick Attack it wasn't ready for the follow up Take Down which sent it reeling.

"Pathetic! Go in for a Night Slash!" Bursting forward with speed it slammed its claw, glowing with black crackling energy, into the brave bird sending it flying back.

"Staraptor! Are you alright?" Ash cried. The winged warrior shook its head to release itself from a daze and let out a battle cry. "Haha yeah!" Ash called out, "Agility then move in for a Close Combat!"

"STAR!" The pokemon gained a bit of blur as it darted around the arena and began flying in close at full speed.

"Gah Weavile destroy it with a Metal Claw!" The attacks struck simultaneously.

Staraptor went flying back and landed unconscious. Weavile stood up looking a bit worse for wear, and getting worse by the minute, it was obviously dazed from the impact.

"Staraptor is unable to battle! Match to Weavile!"

"It's ok Staraptor, return buddy." Ash returned his pokemon and took out another. "Go Floatzel!" The sea weasel pokemon burst out with a flourish.

"Uggh what a show pokemon, destroy the wimp with a Quick Attack Weavile!" Paul called out.

Ash grinned. "Aqua Jet!" The extra water power behind the strike sent Weavile flying before it could get its attack in.

"Weavile is unable to battle! Match to Floatzel!" Paul hissed under his breath as he returned his pokemon and sent out another, "Finish it Electivire!"

Over in the stands Brock gulped. "Oh no Ash is in for it now! Electivire is probably one of the strongest Electric pokemon there is!"

Dawn gave Brock a dirty look. "Ash can do it! He's taken out pokemon that have a type advantage before! He does it all the time!"

Brock shrugged, "Maybe, but it'll be very difficult with this one."

Back down on the field Ash shook the fear off. "Do you want to continue Floatzel?" The sea weasel gave a harsh 'Zel!' of agreement. It wouldn't back down.

"Right! Then start off with a Razor Wind before it can do anything!" Floatzel fell to all fours and began spinning its tails rapidly.

"Electivire end this now with a Giga Impact!" The large yellow monster let out a howl and charged forward, glowing madly.

"Floatzel jump above it and use the Razor Wind to get higher!" The sea weasel leapt above the Electivire and unleashed its attack. The recoil from the release sent it higher while the blade of wind slammed Electivire into the ground canceling out its attack.

"Now dive down on it with an Aqua Jet!" Ash commanded his pokemon.

Paul thinking quickly commanded his pokemon in a last ditch effort, "Discharge!"

Just as Floatzel hit Electivire released the electricity causing an unexpected explosion.

As the smoke clear the referee decreed, "Both pokemon are unable to battle! Please send out your next pokemon now!"

"GO TORTERRA!" The trainers' voices cried out simultaneously.

"Oh wow folks this is going to be a great battle! Two absolutely monstrous Tort-" He was cut off by Paul's command of, "Earthquake!" Right after the command left his lips his giant tortoise slammed its legs down shaking the arena and sending a jagged fissure towards Ash's Torterra.

Ash grinned and taking a page from Gardenia's book he called out a counter attack, "Trip him up with Grass Knot!" Torterra's eyes glowed green and vines burst out of the ground wrapping around his foe's legs and bringing the opposing tortoise crashing into the ground.

Quickly calculating how long he'd have before the foe recovered Ash called out a final command, "Hyper beam!" A sphere of light glowed in his Torterra's mouth as the other struggled to get back on its feet. The beam of pure energy didn't give it that chance and Paul's Torterra was blown clear of the vines and into the stadium wall.

As the dust cleared the crowd held their breath.

"Paul's Torterra is unable to battle! Match to Ash's Torterra!" The crowd went wild as both competitors returned their pokemon. Paul had two pokemon left. Ash had Torterra, Pikachu, and an as yet unrevealed pokemon.

Paul growled, "Grr you better win Aggron!" The rock and steel type tyrant roared as it was released out of its pokeball onto the field.

"Wow, another battle between behemoths!" The announcer cried, "What a match!" His second sentence was again cut off by the dual cries of the trainers calling out, "Earthquake!"

The arena was annihilated by the twin ground attacks. Fissures erupted everywhere and rocks and debris went flying striking both pokemon. While Torterra was already tired from its previous battle, Aggron suffered from a crippling double weakness to ground type moves.

Eventually the tremors ceased, the debris stopped flying, and the dust cleared. Showing another double knockout.

"Wow what a mix of attacks! Both pokemon are down! Paul is on his last pokemon now! And Ash is down to two!" The announcer was just as excited as the roaring crowd while the trainers returned their pokemon to their pokeballs.

Ash knew Paul had likely saved his best pokemon for last. So he'd send out one he knew could likely win and at worst soften the next one up immensely for Pikachu.

"Come on out Gible!"

"Hail, Froslass!"

Ash recognized his mistake immediately as Paul's pokemon came out immediately starting up a hailstorm to hide itself in.

"Gible do you still want to fight it?" The little dragon growled out its named and jumped around excitedly. "Well alright! Start things out with a dig!" Diving underground before it could freeze over it dodged an impromptu Ice Beam from the frosty ghost.

"_Ash. Ash. Return." _He shook off the whispering voice in his head and focused on the battle. When Gible popped out of the ground he gave it a command, "Dragon Pulse!" The close range blast of draconic energy sent the Froslass flying through the air, though it only sustained minor damage. He knew that with Snow Cloak Gible would have to focus on close range attacks to have a hope of winning.

His thoughts were cut short as a well-timed, extremely super effective, Ice Shards sent his little dragon flying into a wall. "Gible! Get up buddy!" He cried as once again the blue mist flew over unnoticed from his hands to his pokemon.

Reenergized the small dragon and it leapt to its feet and began glowing.

"What?!" Paul roared as the announcer chimed in with, "What do you know viewers! The Gible is evolving!"

As the light faded it struck a fearsome pose, "GaaaaBITE!"

"Awesome! Get back in there with a Dual Chop Gabite!" Zooming along the ground with newfound speed the dragon pokemon slammed first one bladed fin, then the other into the surprised Froslass sending it flying.

"Grr…finish it off with a Blizzard!" Ash blanched at Paul's command and tried to command Gabite to counterattack, but it didn't have enough time to charge up the Draco Meteor and was knocked out by the fearsome ice storm.

"Gabite return! Good job buddy." With a grin he sent Pikachu out. "Let's end this! Volt Tackle!"

Pikachu charged in full speed with an electrifying yellow aura. Frosslass tried to dodge and partially succeeded, only being clipped by the attack.

"Quick Attack into Iron Tail! Don't let up!" Even through the now fading hail storm Pikachu was relentless. He knew how important this match was for his trainer, his friend, his partner. A swing of the tail with a silver sheen and Froslass was down and out to the super effective move.

"And that's it folks! Ash goes to the final round to face Tobias!"

A few hours later Ash and company were watching the recording of Tobias's match.

"How is that fair? Using legendary pokemon like that?" Brock questioned, not truly expecting an answer.

Dawn shook her head, "I guess no one managed to do it before so they didn't feel the need to make a rule about it." Piplup shook in fear as the Darkrai on the recording let out a cry of melancholy and terror inducing power.

Ash stood up without saying a word until Brock and Dawn turned a questioning gaze to him. "I need to make a phone call." Was the trainer's only explanation as he walked off, Pikachu tailing behind.


	2. Humbling Tobias

**Author's Note: Been sick and writing papers for college classes. And after this chapter the battles will tone down a little and add character development and some more validation for Ash's behavior (references to how he reacted to some past canon events due to being older when they occurred). We just sort of started out in the thick of things. The reasoning for the utter curb stomping of Tobias's legends is two-fold and will be explained at the end to not spoil the surprise.**

Ash, knowing the power of Darkrai and Latios from his past encounters with such Pokemon, had formed a plan for once. He'd completely switched up his team just to account for them. He knew it would be quite the battle.

Standing on the grand battlefield where the finals were being held his breath was quick and excited as the crowd murmured during the announcer's introduction. He saw Cynthia standing in the VIP box with Mr. Goodshow.

If he won, he'd get a chance to challenge her. He gritted his teeth, he wasn't going to lose to someone as unsporting as Tobias. Using legendary Pokemon to sweep the early rounds. That was low; the final round would have been fine. That was supposed to be using your best of your best Pokemon.

But using Legendary Pokemon to sweep the preliminaries, the quarter, and even the semi-finals? It just felt like a cheap win to Ash. And that was why the soon to be sixteen year old had a statement to make.

Before the referee started the match he had a speech to make. He had arranged a few hours earlier, the tournament officials had not been too keen on Tobias's choice of Pokemon either so they had allowed it.

Using a microphone he began speaking, his voice was strong and sure, it carried a great distance thanks to the technology, "Just one moment, Tobias." The cheers and chatter of the crowd slowed until it came to a complete stop.

"I can't abide by what you've been doing in this conference? Using Legendary Pokemon for something any less than the final round? You've been disgustingly excessive, unfair, and unsporting! And there is nothing I hate more than someone being unfair." He turned around and pointed to his back so the cameras could see that he'd had Brock help him stitch the words Fair Play onto the back of his jacket the night before.

"And I'm going to even the odds!" He spun back around and at the cue he'd given the announcer started the match. Tobias, an angry look on his face, predictably sent out Darkrai. However, instead of taking out a pokeball, Ash took out a strange looking ocarina and began to play a tune.

A deep tune floated over the field and the haunting, reverberating song that answered it from the nearby ocean filled the crowd with a strange feeling.

That feeling was quickly replaced by awe when a sleek white pokemon of massive size with purple fins on its back burst forth from the sea and flew over to hover in front of Ash. The sponsors and announcers were still awed, yet not as much as the audience for they had been warned. Cynthia simply smirked. Tobias was floored. He'd never had to face another Legendary Pokemon with his. And the fact that it seemed this Lugia, protector of the Orange and Sevii Islands, was fighting for Ash purely of its own accord and not because he'd captured it intimidated him slightly.

With a smirk Ash called out across the field, "Well Tobias, now that I've evened the odds why don't we begin?"

Tobias growled in response and called out his attack, "Dark Void! Put that thing to sleep Darkrai!"

A crimson orb formed in the air above the being of darkness and hurtled forward towards Lugia only to be stopped by shimmering air after Ash casually gave a command for Lugia to throw up a Safeguard.

The attack splashed uselessly against the shield. "Now…fire back with Aeroblast."

Not needing to be told twice the Lugia reared back its head charging up a blistering vortex of gale force winds in its maw before throwing his head forward to let loose the beam of what could be considered a condensed hurricane.

Blanching Tobias quickly commanded his Darkrai to dodge, with the legend quickly floating out of the range of the bulk of the attack. However, the release of winds when the attack hit the ground under where it had previously floated knocked it sideways a few extra yards.

Ash nodded to himself, confirming Darkrai's speed, "Three element spread. Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump."

Lugia sent a Thunderbolt slightly to the left, forcing Darkrai to dodge right, then the Ice Beam went to where the dark legend had dodged and it dodged left again, just in time to take a Hydro Pump to the face. Thousands of kiloliters of pressurized water pummeled it in the face and sent it flying back into the psychic barriers protecting the audience.

Ash clucked his tongue in annoyance as the finisher, a powerful Aeroblast, was intercepted by a Dark Pulse from the quickly recovering Darkrai.

"Ice Beam it now Darkrai!" Tobias's command elicited a shake of Ash's head and the thought, "Trying to take advantage of a super effective attack. This is a battle of legends. That won't work."

With a grin Ash made his own counter command, "Toss it right back with a Psychic, Lugia!" It was as if the creature's large beak like maw could smirk as its eyes lit up with psychic power and the Ice Beam glowed blue before promptly u-turning back around to smack Darkrai in the face.

Tobias gasped and decided he needed a way to overpower the Lugia, "Darkrai use Nasty Plot!" The legend glowed a dark purple and beckoned at Lugia with an evil talon. "Now Hyper Beam!"

A blazing orange beam of energy lanced out quickly towards Lugia and its partner quickly thought up a counter, "Light Screen to slow it down then spin out of the way and fire off an Aeroblast!"

A bright golden wall of energy jumped up in front of Lugia and as the Hyper Beam hit it slowly buckled before shattering, however that was all the time needed for the Guardian of the Seas to barrel roll out of the way and fire off a powerful Aeroblast right at the recovering Darkrai.

Due to having just fired off a Hyper Beam the Darkrai could not defend and took a direct, critical hit. Being blasted into the psychic barriers a second time spelt its doom. For the first time in the Lily of the Valley Conference, Darkrai fainted.

"R-return Darkrai!" Tobias spoke as he held up the pokeball and it returned. With an angry glare at Lugia he sent out his next pokemon, "Finish it Latios!"

Raising a hand Ash motioned Lugia over. "You did good my friend. Go rest. I can finish the rest of this battle." With an elated song Lugia flew out of the arena and back to the ocean.

Now Tobias was angry, "Why did you send it away? Are you not taking me seriously Ketchum?"

Ash smirked, "You haven't kept up with the other leagues much have you? I knew I couldn't take on two legends, especially one like Darkrai, because I just wouldn't be able to deal with the leftovers once I beat them. But one legend?" He grinned and enlarged a pokeball as he said this, "One legend I've more than dealt with before. Meet the conqueror of Articuno. The fiery tyrant of the skies. Charizard!" He tossed his pokeball and, using the seals from performing in contests, a burst of blue flames scattered outward as Charizard materialized with an earsplitting roar that shook the stadium. Never let it be said that Ash didn't learn how to work a crowd when he was working with May and Dawn to improve their contest abilities.

Ash's Charizard had been a beast when it defeated Articuno almost a year previously during his stint defeating the Battle Frontier. Now it was a specimen of the species that would impress even Lance, the Champion of the Johto and head of the Kanto Elite Four.

Ash's relationship with Charizard had changed a lot over time. Now the fire dragon fully trusted his trainer, his master, his partner, his friend. So when Ash nodded at him and said, "Go crazy buddy. I'll let you know if you need to change anything up." The evil draconic grin that split the pokemon's face sent a chill down both Tobias and Latios's spines.

The broiling green flame of a Dragonbreath rocketed right at Latios. It quickly recovered from the roar however and tossed up a shimmering green shield of Protect.

Charizard however hadn't expected the Dragonbreath to do much and when the flames cleared and the Protect dropped Latios ended up with a brutal Dragon Rush slamming into its body. With a shriek Latios powered up a Dragon Claw and tried to beat Charizard back with the glowing appendages.

Charizard was having none of that, he responded with his own super-effective Dragon Claws and after a particularly nasty bash to the side of Latios's head spun around and knocked it into the psychic barriers with a Dragon Tail.

"That's a pretty young Latios isn't it Tobias? It's not even as experienced as the one I befriended in Alto mare!" Ash taunted his opponent to try and keep him from giving levelheaded orders to his legend.

"You…you shut up Ketchum!" Tobias was losing his cool, "Luster Purge!"

A bolt of psychic energy shot out from Latios at Charizard intending to weaken his defenses for later assaults.

Ash knew he couldn't allow Charizard's defenses to be lowered so he called out his first commands, "Fire Spin to trim it down then deflect it with Steel Wing before going in for a counterattack!"

Charizard sent a blazing fast Fire Spin back at Latios, which served the dual purpose of slowing down the attack and trapping Latios for the time being. When the slowed attack eventually reached Charizard he met it with a charge, his glowing wings deflecting the attack away as the great lizard barreled through the center of his own Fire Spin at the Eon pokemon.

"Psy-psychic!" Tobias screamed and even as Latios's eyes glowed blue the powerful Charizard was only slowly as it slammed into the other dragon.

"Grab it and Flare Toss!" Ash grinned; his Charizard was right back where he prevailed, up close and dirty. Matching his trainer's grin the fire dragon latched its arms around the Latios and shot into the sky before flipping around and plummeting to Earth…only on the way down the air around them seemed to catch fire. Latios screamed as the flames covered his body, a scream that was silenced by its release and subsequent rendezvous with the ground.

When the smoke finally cleared the great orange beast stood proudly and triumphantly with one clawed foot resting atop the unconscious Latios's neck.

Ash smirked as Tobias shakily recalled his Latios and Ash did the same with Charizard.

"Now," Ash called out across the stadium through his microphone, "We get to see your true worth as a trainer Tobias. No more crutches for you. Let's see how much you've put into training your real pokemon since you started relying on the Legendary ones."

**Final note: Okay I felt like I owed you all what I had done. I got sick for like a month and now it's finals. Yikes. Anywho Charizard fought super-Entei for a prolonged battle, has held off multiple legendaries, and outright defeated Articuno in the Battle Frontier a season before this fight occurs. Of course he can curbstomp a young inexperienced Latios. And Lugia is going to be a centerpoint of these story later on, you'll see. **


End file.
